Seagate Backup Plus External Not Getting Detected - Help!

Black_Hawk

Black_Hawk

Skilled
My 4TB Seagate Backup Plus External HDD was working fine last night but unfortunately I can't seem to access it from this morning! When I connect the HDD to a PC the USB device connection sound plays but the drive does not show up under This PC nor does it get listed under Disk Management. I have tested it on 3 different PC's but it's the exact same thing on all of them.

I was wondering if I should shuck the drive and try it on a HDD dock to see if it gets detected that way?

Any pointers will be really appreciated!

Thanks!
 
PunkX 75 said:
Is the cable detachable? If so, try a different cable.

If it's not under warranty, the dock seems like a viable option.
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This one is a portable external HDD (no external power needed via power block) and yes the USB connecting cable is detachable. I tried it with a different USB cable as well but no luck. I even tested the default cable by trying it with a different external HDD and that one got detected with it so the cable I think is not faulty.

Looks like shucking it and trying the internal drive on a dock is the only option now since said drive is 6 years old and out of warranty. If that doesn't work then I think it's pretty much RIP for it no?

Btw, when I connect the drive to a PC the small white LED on it lights up, doesn't flicker (like when it did when I accessed data from it) and remains static. Then after a while the LED light turns off.
 
Try connecting the internal drive directly to your PC via SATA instead of a dock just to be on the safe side. First check if it shows up in the BIOS.
 
PunkX 75 said:
Try connecting the internal drive directly to your PC via SATA instead of a dock just to be on the safe side. First check if it shows up in the BIOS.
Click to expand...

Well... I went ahead and shuck'd the drive. Took out the internal drive clean and then tried the drive on a HDD dock via USB. PC did not detect the drive via the Dock as well. Sigh.

But... I put my ears near the drive, like really near and picked up a sound that is very similar to a faint beeping Morse Code! Used my phone to record that sound being faintly emitted by putting phone very near the drive on the HDD dock:

Faint Beeping Sound From HDD

^^ Please increase volume on your speakers/ headphones to hear the faint beeps.

Does that faint beeping indicate that the drive is completely dead? Anything else I can try and see?

Freezing the drive... worth doing? Does it even work?:nomouth:
 
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My external also died like that some time back. It would turn on, make some noise and then i think stopped spinning maybe. Couldn't access.
I have had couple of externals disks die in last couple of years. Oddly, most of my seagate drives have had issues eventually, while one wd drive (internal) that i have used is working well for many years.
 
PunkX 75 said:
It's worth a shot, but the drive may get further damaged due to moisture condensation. Only try it if the data on it isn't too important. At least you can give it to some shop for data recovery.
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Good thing is I follow a strict principle I had set for myself a long time back after a sudden disk failure that I had many years back: Always keep a mirror backup of every single drive on a another secondary drive. Thus, thankfully I'm covered and won't encounter the "sudden death attack" data loss syndrome! Some of us have learnt the hard way and know what a nightmare that can be!

I think I'll just freeze the drive tomorrow night. Put it in a couple of zip lock bags and stick it in the cold freezer. Try it after 12 hours and see.

EDIT (Update): Put the said drive in a two Ziplock bags and tucked it away in the freezer at 9:30AM. Will take it out at 9:30PM and try to see if it works... keeping fingers crossed! :nomouth:
 
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Put it in a couple of zip lock bags and stick it in the cold freezer.
Click to expand...
Might not make much difference, but maybe try sealing them with a vacuum cleaner so that most of the air is sucked out and chances of moisture (from this air) entering the drive are less. Obviously nothing can be done about the air already inside the drive, but it's better than just sticking them in I guess.

Disclaimer - I have not done this, so I cannot comment on whether this will make the drive much worser. Do read up on the internet. High school physics is what lead me to make this observation.
 
badwhitevision said:
Might not make much difference, but maybe try sealing them with a vacuum cleaner so that most of the air is sucked out and chances of moisture (from this air) entering the drive are less. Obviously nothing can be done about the air already inside the drive, but it's better than just sticking them in I guess.

Disclaimer - I have not done this, so I cannot comment on whether this will make the drive much worser. Do read up on the internet. High school physics is what lead me to make this observation.
Click to expand...

Yes, tried my best to take the air out of the ziplock bags manually and then stuck it in the freezer. Condensation and moisture could very well damage the drive further but at this point I'm ok trying this freezing method out since I have the cushion of data being backed up already. To be honest the drive I think is a goner so even if it somehow magically does work it will probably be temporary. Once the drive heats up again it will fail.

One thing I do remember is the External HDD was connected to my system overnight as I was working from it till about 2AM. Then I left it connected (my PC was ON through the night). When I accessed the drive the next day on my PC it loaded the files but then the window hung. I then shut down the PC because I couldn't eject the drive normally and didn't want to yank the USB cable before ejecting it from Windows. When I felt the HDD case right after I shutdown the PC, the case was very hot. This was alarming because usually the case never really heated up to that extent before. I let the drive cool down before connecting it back up. Post that the drive failed to show up when connected to multiple systems.
 
The loading of files is because of the cache. You can see this with a 3.5 inch drive more commonly since they have a larger cache. Sometimes, you'll be able to access files/paths without the drive having to spin up. When you access a file/path that is not on the cache, only then does the drive spin up.
 
exact same thing happened with my seagate external 2tb drive too 5 years ago. it was working one day and wouldnt be detected in pc next time. i always used to copy data and disconnect it immediately. now its kept in cupboard with hope that some day it will start up and ill be able to backup my files.
 
The fear of external drives still haunts. I will bet on internals any day..relatively easy to recover data or have them get detected.
 
Update: Well, took out the drive after 12 hours from the cold freezer, said my prayers (!!) and tried it on my HDD Dock...

No dice. Drive DID NOT get detected on my PC. The faint beeping inside the HDD (like a Morse Code) is no longer being emitted but now there is just a sound of mechanical whirring. No clicking sound either. The blue LED on the HDD dock remains static and does not blink so no data is being read from the drive.

Well I think that is that then. I have tried turning the HDD Dock power ON/OFF and re-trying with the drive after re-seating it but nothing has yielded anything. Safe to say that the drive then is a coaster. :(
 
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If you know, you know :playful:
 
Freezing method did not work, so that a no go.

Another method is to disable automount on Windows, connect the HDD and try a recovery software like R-Studio for data recovery.
 
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